Elliot Pheasant

Elliot’s pheasant was first described in 1872 by Robert Swinhoe, under the name “Phasianus ellioti“; the type material was from Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China. The specific epithet ellioti commemorates the American ornithologist Daniel Giraud Elliot; Swinhoe explained his choice thus:

“Possessed of so many striking characteristics, it would be easy to find an appropriate name for so marked a species; but on glancing down the list of Pheasants I find that not one bears the name of Elliot; and it strikes me it would be wrong to allow his magnificent work on the subject to close without the figure of a bird dedicated to himself” Alternative common names for the species include Chinese bar-backed pheasant and Chinese barred-backed pheasant.